that would extend middle-class tax cut, deal with spending cuts. it's a basic plan that the president is calling for. something similar has already passed so the white house feels confident that what the president is calling for could again pass through the senate and get through the house. in order for that to happen, richard, that would involve every single democrat in the house voting for it as well as about 30 republicans. so the question is could they actually get that many republicans to vote for this pack am that the president is calling for. but politically what he is doing is essentially saying this is the plan i'm putting forth, let's get it through the senate and if it fails, it will fail through the senate house, letting republicans own that failure. putting it in a box. president obama giving the lawmakers here two options. one, to come up with their own alternative proposal. of course, that's something senate majority leader harry reid will work on. if not, he'll say put my plan to basic up or down vote. richard? >> kristen, i didn't